Dallas Turner opens up on what it means to be a team captain

At the end of each regular season, Alabama picks its team captains for the year. This year, edge defender Dallas Turner was one of the team’s selections, along with quarterback Jalen Milroe and defensive back Malachi Moore.

Turner was an obvious selection, a player who emerged and helped make up for the departure of star edge rusher Will Anderson.

“It’s just a blessing to lead the group of guys that we have,” Dallas Turner said. “It’s just something that’s going to be set in stone forever, we come back and put our hands in cement in stuff like that. It’s a big accomplishment, it’s a blessing and I’m just grateful to lead a group of guys like that.”

Dallas Turner turned in an absolutely stellar season for the Crimson Tide, establishing his presence on the defense from Day 1.

He racked up 50 tackles, 14.5 tackles for a loss, 10.0 sacks, two forced fumbles, a pass breakup and 13 quarterback hurries. Those were elite numbers in the Southeastern Conference.

Turner will have an NFL Draft decision coming up, but for now he’ll enjoy the permanent captaincy of his squad. Prior to the end of the regular season, Alabama uses captains on a week by week basis. No longer.

Jesse Minter breaks down Jalen Milroe, Alabama offense

While Dallas Turner will get to go after Michigan‘s offensive line in the College Football Playoff, the Wolverines defense will have its hands full trying to defend quarterback Jalen Milroe and the Crimson Tide.

Minter explained the challenge.

“Jalen is a phenomenal athlete, first and foremost. A great football player. He can do a lot,” Minter said. “I really think they’ve settled into what he does really well over the course of the season so give a lot of credit to Tommy Rees, coach [Nick] Saban, their coaching staff for kind of — I think early in the year, any time you have a new starter, it’s kind of maybe think you know what his strengths and weaknesses are and then you get out there and play, play in the games, games that they play in. He’s an elite athlete. He’s an elite runner.”

Minter didn’t want to let Milroe’s rushing ability overshadow his ability as a passer, which has also improved as the season has progressed.

He threw just a pair of interceptions in the final six games of the regular season after coughing it up four times in the air through the first six contests. He’s also thrown for multiple touchdowns in seven of Alabama’s final eight games — the lone game without he actually came up empty through the air but scored four times on the ground.

Milroe’s ability to punish teams not just by running, but throwing — and the second-reaction plays created because of his-dual threat ability — stood out to Minter during his initial study of the Alabama quarterback.

“But he’s a really good quarterback. He throws the ball better than I think most people give him credit for,” Minter said. “He’s made a lot of big plays on deep balls this year and he’s really capable of making that second play, which is a lot times the most dangerous as a defense to — you stop the play or you cover the deep route, everybody’s deep and in their zones and then he has the ability to take off.”

On3’s Andrew Graham also contributed to this report.